An application has been lodged in the Supreme Court seeking an early hearing of a plea against the Delhi High Court’s 2005 verdict which quashed all charges, including those against the Hinduja brothers, in the politically sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case.
Filed by Advocate Ajay Agrawal, the application stated that the apex court had on November 2, 2018 dismissed the CBI’s plea against the high court verdict and mentioned that the investigation agency can raise all grounds in the appeal filed by him against the same judgment.
Advocate Agrawal said he had filed the petition in the top court against the high court verdict in 2005 itself and three decades have gone by since the matter came to light. The plea underlined that around 16 years have passed since filing of this case by the applicant and 35 years have passed since the occurrence of this scam. It asserted that all the accused persons have died in between leaving Hinduja Brothers.
The plea further claimed that there have been recurrence of scams in the defence sector since the accused in this first ever scam, Bofors case have not been punished. It stated that it is expedient in the interest of justice that the matter be heard at an early date.
The Supreme Court in its November 2, 2018 order had dismissed the CBI plea seeking condonation of 13-year delay in filing the appeal against the May 31, 2005 judgment of the high court, stating that it is not convinced with the grounds furnished by the agency.
The Delhi High Court had in its 2005 verdict quashed all charges against the three Hinduja brothers namely S P Hinduja, G P Hinduja and P P Hinduja and the Bofors company. Before the verdict, the high court had on February 4, 2004 exonerated former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the case and ordered the framing of charge of forgery under section 465 of the Indian Penal Code against AB Bofors, formerly a Swedish arms manufacturing company which is now part of BAE Systems of the UK.
Notably, the Rs 1,437 crore deal between India and AB Bofors for the supply of 400 units of 155 mm Howitzer guns for the Indian Army was entered into on March 24, 1986. On April 16, 1987, Swedish Radio claimed that the company had paid bribes to top Indian politicians and defence officers for clinching the deal.